Our Colors
by SeaMar
Summary: (Sequel to, Rubies and Emeralds) Growing up at the Dursley’s I always wished that I could play war games with Dudley and his friends. Now, I can’t believe I ever wanted to have anything to do with wars. -- The final battle with some HG thrown in. Angsty.


**OUR COLORS**

**A sequel to _Christmas Colors, Green Beans and Tomatoes, _and _Rubies and Emeralds._**

**_- - - - - - - - - _**

It's amazing to think about how much things can change in such a short period of time. One month ago I was playing Quidditch while my housemates cheered me on, and tonight – tonight we're going into battle.

I knew it was coming, they kept telling me, 'It's getting closer.' I just chose not to consider that aspect, I was much happier when all I had to do was brood, but now, I'm at the head of the light side.

It scares the life out of me.

They, the death eaters, stormed Hogsmeade two hours ago. I was immediately pulled out of my bed and brought to Dumbledore's office with the rest of the top members of the Order.

I don't know what's going to happen to the other students.

I don't want to know.

They brought Ron, Hermione, and Ginny up to the office with me as well, I wouldn't leave without them. I couldn't leave without them.

Ron has his chess face on – it's unreadable. Hermione looks as though all she wants is to find a book and research a way out of this mess. And Ginny – Ginny – she's as white as a ghost, with silent tears pouring down her cheeks. It breaks my heart to see her so scared, but right now I don't know how to help her.

"Harry." Dumbledore's soft voice alerts me from my thoughts.

I answer by meeting my gaze with his.

"Are you feeling alright?" He asks.

I have to bit back a snide retort. What type of question is that? Of course I'm not feeling bloody alright – I'm going into war.

"Fine." I whisper into the dark office. Dumbledore seems satisfied, and turns his gaze back to his hands.

I'm going into war…it's such a surreal thought.

Growing up at the Dursley's I always wished that I could play war games with Dudley and his friends. Now, I can't believe I ever wanted to have anything to do with wars.

Because, they are not a game.

The people who 'die' in a game, stand back up and go inside for lunch once they get bored with the whole thing. In a war, if you lose, you'll never stand up.

"Harry." I look up. Ginny's standing in front of me, looking at me with unabashed concern in her eyes.

"Gin." I whisper – it's the best I can do.

"Harry, I…" She's cut off by a blaring siren.

"The wards have dropped." Dumbledore whispers from his desk.

As if in a dream, the members of the Order leap up from their seats and scurry out the door. I watch solemnly as Dumbledore rises slowly from his seat, and walks towards the exit.

"Harry, we don't have much time." He tells me. I know he can sense my trepidation.

"Give us a moment, please, sir." Hermione answers him, not me.

Dumbledore nods once and sweeps out of the room, his face a mask of power.

We're alone in the room now. I'm afraid to break the silence.

"So…" Ron finally speaks. He's muffled by a gut-wrenching sob coming from Hermione. He immediately drops all pretenses that everything is right with the world, and rushes over to comfort her.

I finally look at Ginny.

She's staring at me unblinkingly, as if she's trying to memorize my features. It's probably what she is doing.

Before I can say anything, she launches herself into my arms, and begins crying in earnest into the front of my robes.

I feel a tear leak out of my eye, and begin to rock the two of us back and forth, a vain effort to lighten the mood.

"It will be okay." I whisper into her ear. I don't know if it will be, but I can't stand to see her crying.

"How can it be okay?" She whispers into my neck.

I don't have an answer.

"I love you." She says, gripping onto me tighter.

"I love you too." I whisper forcefully, "I'll always love you." And then, I feel a part of me realize something I've been trying to deny since it first started fluttering near the outskirts of my brain.

I might not live to see tomorrow.

I was always afraid of dying in this whole thing, but it had always been that, a fear. It was never a harsh reality until now.

It's as if Ginny knows my thoughts have changed, "We're all going to be fine." She whispers fiercely, "We're all going to be just fine."

"Gin…" I start.

"No, Harry, don't say it, please, just don't." She pleads with me. But it has to be said.

"I have to." I say quietly, silently praying that she understands.

"Harry." Her voice is torn.

"I need you to listen to me, please Ginny, please just listen." I beg. When she doesn't answer I continue on, "If something happens to me." I feel a harsh sob rack through her body, "If something happens, and I don't come back I want you to promise me something."

"I want you to live. And that doesn't mean you just walk around breathing and putting on fake smiles, I want you to live a full life. I want you to find someone to love you, and who you love back. I want you to take every opportunity this world has to offer, and I need you to let me go. I need you to not cry over me, but just remember me, and know that the time we had was good."

"Be quiet!" She shrieks at me, crying harder than I've ever seen her cry before. "BE QUIET!"

"Promise me, Gin." I press on.

"No." She whimpers.

"Promise me." I repeat. "I need to know that you understand before I go out there."

"I can't." She whispers.

"Please, I need this." I plead with her.

"I – only if you do the same for me." She looks up at me, a fierce determination in her eyes.

"Do the same what?" I ask.

"Only if you promise to me everything you just asked me to promise." She answers.

"Ginny, you'll be absolutely fine." I tell her.

"I might not be." She says defiantly, still crying openly, "And if you make me promise that I'll be happy, so you can go out there and try to sacrifice you're life with a clean conscience – I won't promise you anything Harry, because listen to me. You. Will. Be. Fine." She pronounces each word in a deathly calm hiss.

"Ginny…" I start to argue with her again before I'm cut off.

"Mr. Potter, it's time to leave." McGonagall's voice comes from the doorframe. It doesn't hold it's usual harshness though, it's filled with fear, and an underlying understanding of our predicament.

I nod at her, and stand up with wobbly legs, still clutching on tightly to Ginny.

Before I know it, Hermione has thrown herself into my arms as well, and Ron's placed a reassuring hand on my shoulder. I turn to meet his eyes, and he gives me the faintest smile.

"It's up to us now mate." He whispers.

I'm given the tiniest bit of reassurance knowing I have Ron with me. It's nice to have a best friend.

- - - - - - -

As soon as we got outside into the thick of the battle I was separated from them, and pushed to the front.

I've been fighting ever since.

I do my best to ignore the bodies that paint the once green grass of Hogwarts. My home.

I dodge jets of light coming from every direction, yet I'm surprised that no one has tried to take me out yet.

Most likely on orders from Tom.

"LOOK OUT!" I hear a cry from behind me, and I duck just in time to avoid a nasty looking stinging hex.

I want this to be over.

No, I need this to be over.

I can't help but ask myself a question I've asked myself a lot. Why me? I have no special powers, nothing that sets me apart from someone who was much braver and stronger. Someone like, oh I dunno, maybe Dumbledore perchance.

Then I see something that makes my heart and mind stop the course they were headed on. It's like destiny has decided to pull a cruel trick on me, right when my mind was on the subject.

Lying before me is the lifeless body of Albus Dumbledore, the twickle not yet gone from his eyes.

With a painful wrench in my gut, and an ache in my heart, I realize that there is only one person who could have taken down Dumbledore.

In a moment that seems to take an eternity, I raise my face up to meet the cold red eyes of Tom Riddle.

"Harry Potter." He hisses.

Talking back seems trivial, as I dodge his first curse.

One aimed straight at my heart.

The sounds of screams and gasps around me barely reach my ears as I fire curse after curse, hoping one of them will reach my target.

No luck.

Then pain hits me.

An excruciating pain that I haven't felt in over a year, but one that I would never forget the feel of no matter how much time had passed.

When it lifts, I'm mildly surprised to find myself on all fours, my throat feeling like I've been screaming for an hour non-stop.

I realize with a chill that the battleground is eerily quiet, only a few fights still going on in the background. Everyone's stopped to watch the final showdown between me and good old Tom.

Just what I need – an audience.

I don't have time to dwell on that as I roll over to avoid another jet of colored light.

I fire a weak curse, hoping to make a dent in Tom's stamina, but, although it hits him, doesn't seem to make that much of an impact.

As I readjust myself, and dash away from another threatening burst from Tom's wand, I realize that I just want it to end.

To finally stop.

Drawing myself up, and gathering enough resolve to stop the shaking that's coursing through my body, I walk right in front of Tom, bearing what I'm sure is an untamed gaze of fury.

Then I speak the words that were used to bring down my parents, Cedric, and so many innocent others.

The only problem, he speaks them at the same time.

The two green jets of light meet each other half way and erupt into a brilliant golden light.

I can't keep my eyes open from the pure force of it.

I can hear screaming now.

I don't know what's happening.

All I know is that it's getting harder to keep my eyes open.

Then, a sonic sounding blast comes bursting out from the golden light, the brightness turning everything pure white, and then I feel the ground beneath me, and pounding footsteps, and crying…

"HARRY!" I make out a desperate cry, and then a weight is being pressed down on my chest.

I crack an eye open, only to see my vision obscured by something red. I let out a hacking cough, and immediately Ginny's face is brought into focus.

"Harry." She says weakly.

"Hey Gin." I whisper.

"Oh Merlin, you're okay, it was so scary when you both fell, and…" She's crying.

But I don't feel okay.

And then I know.

But I'm not afraid.

"Gin, what's your favorite color?" I stop her mid-sentence, my voice raspy and hoarse from screaming.

"What?" She asks.

"You heard, what's your favorite color?" I repeat, smiling up at her through the hazy pain in my scar.

"Green." She smiles, "You?"

"Always been red." I answer.

"Christmas Colors." She says, smiling.

"No, Our Colors." I say.

"That sounds much nicer." She tells me.

"Did we win?" I ask. I can't ignore the fact that I don't know the outcome much longer.

"He's gone Harry. You won." She smiles proudly at me.

"Remember the promise?" I whisper, changing the subject to less pleasant things.

"Yes, but that doesn't matter now." She replies.

"Yes it does." I cough, pain continuing to lace through me.

Then I see the painful realization in her eyes.

"No," She whispers.

"Tell Ron and Hermione…" I'm stopped by a harsh coughing fit, and I know what's coming soon.

"Harry, no." Her voice is frantic, and I see her searching the crowd with her eyes, trying to find someone she trusts to help.

"I love you." I whisper, finally closing my eyes, giving clear room for whatever is meant to happen, to happen.

I hear Ginny screaming now, and footsteps.

"Bloody Hell, Harry, mate, wake up. WAKE UP!" Ron's voice makes contact with my foggy brain, and I can feel him shaking me.

I'm on the brink of losing consciousness when I hear a startled gasp, and incoherent mumbling that sounds like Remus' voice.

I don't want him to be sad, I just want the pain to go away.

I don't want to leave Ginny, either. But, maybe, she'll be better off without me.

Then, as if in a dream, I feel the world go black.

**- - - - -**

**AN:** Well, there it is, the final – depressing – part to this 'mini series'. To be honest this was what I had planned from the beginning. A bittersweet love story – that and I was feeling slightly evil. Thank you for all the reviews I have received so far, they mean a lot, and they've helped me restore faith in my writing. Now, I'm off to write a novel length H/G fic…fun, huh? Anyways, thanks again for the support, and I hoped you enjoyed this slightly hastily put together final installment. SeaMar


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